What are special educational needs?
SEN – a definition The term ‘Special Educational Needs’, or SEN, has a legal definition. The Government’s Department for Education and Skills defines children with SEN as having ‘learning difficulties or disabilities which make it harder for them to learn or access education than most other children of the same age.’ A child with special needs may need extra or different help at school or home because of physical difficulties, problems with thinking and understanding, emotional and behavioural issues or a combination of these. However, the law says that children do not have learning difficulties just because their first language is not English. Of course, these children may have learning difficulties as well. How do schools identify children with SEN? The government has set out targets to identify what most children should be able to do when they reach certain ages. For 3- to 5-year-olds these targets are the Early Learning Goals of the Foundation Stage of education. 5- to 16-year-olds
A child has special educational needs (SEN) if he or she has learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for him or her to learn than most other children of about the same age. Many children will have special educational needs of some kind during their education. Schools and other organisations can help most children overcome the barriers their difficulties present quickly and easily. A few children will need extra help for some or all of their time in school. So special educational needs could mean that a child has: • learning difficulties – in acquiring basic skills in school • emotional and behavioural difficulties – making friends or relating to adults or behaving properly in school • specific learning difficulty – with reading, writing, number work or understanding information • sensory or physical needs – such as hearing or visual impairment, which might affect them in school • communication problems – in expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying
The term ‘special educational needs’ has a legal definition, referring to children who have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age. Many children will have special needs of some kind at some time during their education. Help will usually be provided in their ordinary school, sometimes with the help of specialists. If your child has special educational needs, they may need extra help in a range of areas, for example: • schoolwork • reading, writing, number work or understanding information • expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying • making friends or relating to adults • behaving properly in school • organising themselves • some kind of sensory or physical needs which may affect them in school.
Special Educational Needs (SEN) has a legal definition. Children with SEN have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age. These children may need extra or different help from that given to other children of the same age. The SEN children who have a considerably greater difficulty in learning than others the same age. It also includes children who cannot use the educational facilities which other children of a similar age use because of their disability. As many as one in five children may at some time need extra help with their education and they are said to have ‘Special Educational Needs’. There are varying levels of Special Needs, including a small number of children who have severe problems in learning and who need to have special kinds of help over several years. These children are likely to have a written description of their needs and what is to be done for them. Educational Assessments for Children attending s
